Like many other automotive lovers in the 1980s, Anthony Battista was infatuated with exotic vehicles, but the Lamborghini Countach additional so than the decade’s other motoring luminaries. “The 1st time I observed just one in a magazine” he remembers, “I stated to myself, I’m acquiring that vehicle.” In spite of his relative youth, the 28-year-outdated from Connecticut was in the enviable position to make that aspiration a truth, getting saved sufficient to acquire just one underneath the correct conditions.
Regretably, a new case in point was out of the dilemma, specified that none were accessible from nearby dealers without possessing to endure an interminable wait. Alternatively, Battista embarked on a research for a preowned specimen that lasted virtually two several years, tests his endurance and major him to surprise if the proper car or truck would at any time arrive together. Each and every month he thumbed by the pages of Hemmings Motor Information, but just about every time a listing caught his curiosity, he found that it had previously sold. As the calendar turned to 1988, even so, an concern of the duPont REGISTRY supplied him with a guide that proved far more promising.
Jeff Walther Dodge, located in Centerville, Ohio, was offering a 1985 Countach 5000S QV at an beautiful selling price. Soon after a number of long-distance telephone calls negotiating the terms, a deposit was compensated, leading Battista and his father to acquire a single-way airline tickets to retrieve the automobile from the dealer. “I was naïve,” Battista recalled. “It was marketed as a four-valve auto, but when we arrived, I was explained to it was a two-valve design and didn’t know sufficient to care both way.”
The road excursion back again to New England was memorable, a fifteen-hour push that neither father nor son would quickly forget. Filling the Lamborghini’s twin gasoline tanks essential some skill to attain, but every single prevent for gasoline provided them with an prospect to satisfy new good friends. Finish strangers would solution them and request to sit in the motor vehicle, most of them girls, which delighted the new operator to no end.
Driving the auto dwelling exceeded all anticipations, though Battista claimed it was a whole lot distinctive encounter than it would have been in a Lincoln Town Auto. “Everything was stiff,” Battista stated, even though “changing gears was harder than predicted.” However, it was an outstanding practical experience, driving a aspiration with his father alongside for the journey.
Sadly, the throw-out bearing on the clutch unsuccessful two months afterwards, which expected Battista to discover that unique automobile routine maintenance is not for the faint-hearted. The engine-out process prompted him to issue the knowledge of the buy, though that experience faded once the car or truck returned to the street. More than the subsequent fourteen many years, he covered a lot more than 6,000 miles, driving the Countach during the northeast, such as many trips to the seaside.
Throughout the ensuing two a long time, the Countach languished in storage. In new many years, Battista had regarded as restoring the car or truck, but a dialogue a few a long time ago with Dana Acabbo, a reliable confidante and his lengthy-time insurance coverage broker led him to We Are Curated in Miami, Florida. The firm’s owner, John Temerian, effectively-highly regarded in the unique car or truck restoration neighborhood and a vital determine in the Lamborghini Registry, reviewed all the selections with Battista, who remained unsure of which path to adhere to. Following extra time experienced handed and further more discussions with Acabbo, not to point out fastidious investigation into the new rise in Countach values, Battista resolved to provide the car or truck. Offering Acabbo with a sought after figure, the intrepid insurance government restarted the dialogue with Temerian, who agreed to purchase the vehicle.
“I had buyer’s regret when I bought the Countach,” Battista claimed. “I also seasoned some remorse when it went absent, but not enough to regret advertising it. I had my enjoyable with it and now it’s time for someone else to practical experience it for on their own.”
This write-up appeared in our April 2022 challenge.
Photos by Dana Accabo and Carl Battista